Kingsdown Groyne Replacement

Wijma were awarded the tender for the Kingsdown Timber Groyne Replacement, and successfully delivered Over 650 FSC certified Ekki piles on time and to specification. Wijma supplied 225 x 225mm (9 x 9”) piles between 3.00 and 10.00 meters in length, 7.20 meter waling timbers in 150 x 225mm, and 75 x 225mm planking in lengths ranging from 4.00 up to 7.20 meters from our FSC certified concessions and sawmills in Cameroon, ensuring supply of sustainably managed timber from forest to finished product.

Teignmouth Maritime Service (TMS) Ltd, based in Devon who have a wide range of coastal engineering experience won the tender to install the groynes, with the works scheduled to start on the 1st September 2015 and subject to weather conditions, planned for completion by the end of March 2016.

500m3 of FSC certified Ekki

After failures in the seawall in 2011, 2013 and 2014, the tender called for supply of over 500m3 of FSC certified Ekki supplied to go into the construction of 16 new timber groynes with a 60 year design life. Despite several emergency works carried out over the past 15 years that repaired parts of the defences, it was evident that the coastal defences at Kingsdown had reached the end of their design life and were in desperate need of being replaced. The groynes and seawall were no longer performing efficiently and were endangering Kingsdown from risk of flooding and erosion, based on the current rate of erosion, if no action was taken after a sea wall failure:

– The Zetland Arms would be lost to the sea within 5 years.

– The loss of the first property would occur within 10 years.

– 173 residential properties and 5 non‐residential properties would be lost within 30 years.

– Within 100 years a total of 196 residential and 5 non‐residential properties would be lost.